Dementia education for healthcare providers in Niagara Region

Gentle Persuasive Approaches (GPA^®) in Dementia Care

GPA is an evidence-based, innovative, quality care program for interdisciplinary staff and students across multiple health care sectors. GPA re-frames challenging behaviour to be interpreted as self-protective or responsive behaviour occurring as a result of unmet needs, encouraging staff to assess the meaning behind behaviour and work alongside the person with dementia.

P.I.E.C.E.S.^TM

P.I.E.C.E.S.™ is a best practice learning and development initiative that provides an approach to understanding and enhancing care for individuals with complex physical and cognitive/mental health needs and behavioural changes. The P.I.E.C.E.S.™ model helps us to understand the whole person.

U-First! Basics

U-First!® is a training program that helps non-registered health care providers develop a common knowledge base, language, values and approach to caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment by understanding the person and associated behaviour changes and working as a team to develop individualized support strategies.

This 6 hour education program will help you to:

1. Understand that there can be many reasons why you might see behaviour changes in the person
2. Flag the possible changes that you may see when you are supporting the person
3. Interact in a new way with both skill and a common understanding of dementia and other cognitive impairments
4. Reflect and report on not only new behaviours you may see in the person you are supporting but also share your strategies and tips with the team
5. Support the person and their care partners in everyday activities
6. Know that you are part of an important Team in caring for the person

U-First! Advanced

U-First!® Advanced is a new education program for health care staff who provide direct care, who have already taken U-First!® Basics and want to enhance their skills and ability to apply the U-First!® Framework.

This 6 hour education program will help you to:

• Deepen your understanding and ability to apply the U-First! Framework
• Improve collaboration among all members of the team, including care partners
• Increase the wellbeing of people experiencing behaviour changes
• Reduce stress and increase job satisfaction for you and for others on the team

Supporting Older Adults Living with Mental Illness

Supporting Older Adults Living with Mental Illness is a full day course designed for healthcare providers of all disciplines in both the community and LTC sectors, who work with older adults. The goal of the session is to define common mental health disorders (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and schizophrenia). Learners will also review typical treatments and explore supportive non-pharmacological strategies and interventions to incorporate into their day-to-day practice. This certificate course is offered in collaboration with Toronto Regional Geriatric Program and the Toronto Psychogeriatric Resource Consultation Program.

DementiAbility

This two-day workshop aims to help dementia care partners (from all disciplines and departments in all settings) understand the connections between the brain, life story, environment and behaviour. The goal is to help the workshop participant to think differently about dementia while being introduced to innovative, multidisciplinary, evidence-based, non-pharmacological interventions. The importance of “knowing the person” living with dementia, and how this impacts their behaviour, and how we can support – the “what to do” – is highlighted in this program. Learners will enhance their understanding of how to address needs, set each person up for success, enhance function, engage abilities, engage each person in a world with meaning, purpose, leisure and pleasure; and, generally, help each person living with dementia to be the best they can be. 

Positive Approaches to Care

This workshop helps participants to recognize brain change and the changing abilities of a person living with dementia while emphasizing the value of matching helping behaviours to the person’s needs and retained abilities and to promote a sense of control and self-direction. There is a focus on Positive Approach to Care’s care partnering techniques including Positive Physical Approach (PPA) and Hand-under-Hand (HuH) techniques. These newly learned skills include awareness of changes in visual fields, how to shift from “doing to” to “doing with” and practical skill building with common areas of support such as redirection, assisting with sitting and standing, mealtime support and personal care routines of brushing teeth and combing hair. 

This learning opportunity is appropriate for any person supporting persons living with dementia and offers flexible learning, in short sequential sessions, full or half day sessions.